


Child Moons

by SheepyPeanut



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But Fairly Major Character Death, F/M, Gen, Not All Youma are Evil, Not Canon Compliant, Not Main Character Death, So I Put It In The Warnings Anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 12:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3411236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheepyPeanut/pseuds/SheepyPeanut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Run," whispered her mother, and Usagi ran, because she had known from when she was very little that her parents well and truly meant it if they said such things. She grabbed her little brother, and she ran- though perhaps it would have been a bit more hesitant had she known her mother wouldn't pick her up in the morning like she normally did.</p><p>In which the Sailor Scouts come by their powers a bit differently, and the march of history changes to accommodate it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue, of a Sort

**1.**

When Usagi was born (in the early hours of the last day of June), Ikuko knew instinctively that she would be beautiful, and special (though she hadn't yet guessed to what extent).

"Usagi," whispered the proud Kenji, "Tsukino Usagi. My beautiful daughter." He laughed, breathless, as the doctors provided the first observations and tests. She was wrinkled and little and crying horribly, but her silver-blue eyes had her parents hypnotized. She was _theirs_.

The midwife examining her for the next few hours couldn't help but mention: "I'm not sure what the mark on her forehead is, sir, ma'am. It might need to be seen for further treatment, though it appears benign." The poor woman, unused to ever being so out of her depth, tried to explain, "It's the color. Babies don't have faintly yellow marks on their faces when they're born- I haven't ever seen it before, at least."

Ikuko, worried, but knowing somewhere inside that her baby would be fine, brushed her hand across the little moon-shaped mark. "Can she come home? Will she be fine to come home, just for a little bit?"

The midwife bit her lip. She called another doctor in. But neither of them could really see anything _wrong_ , exactly, with the little moon-shaped mark. "Oh, all right," she said, after another check at the baby, who had stopped crying at last and was looking with wonder and the things around her. "She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

So Usagi came home.

* * *

  **2.**

The problems began six days later, when Usagi's tiny heel was pricked so her blood work could be done.

"You don't really have to worry," explained the midwife, "as it's unlikely your child has anything to be worried about. There's no family history." She pricked Usagi's heel. Usagi cried out and began crying again, unused to the idea of pain. "You won't hear anything unless we catch something wrong, in which case you'll hear by the end of the week."

Soon after, Ikuko went home with her baby and Usagi's blood sample was sent to the city's testing labs, where the doctor tested the blood with the typical routine tests.

He frowned, put it aside, and tested it again a day later, just to make sure there wasn't any error.

"That's not possible," he whispered, and then he did what his supervisors told him to do in these situations: bring it directly to them.

"Don't worry, Yuto," he was told. "We can handle this."

For some reason, the doctor didn't leave feeling very comforted.

* * *

**3.**

Ikuko and Kenji had only had Usagi in hand for seven weeks when they'd arrived, ringing her doorbell and causing their daughter to drop her toy and begin to cry. Kenji had frowned and walked to the door while Ikuko tried to sooth their daughter quietly.

They already knew she was different- for one thing, she was an excellent judge of character. But she'd yet to outright cry before someone entered the door. So it was with an apprehensive and curt expression that Kenji opened the door to a veritable army of suits.

"Mr. Tsukino," they'd said. "May we come in?"

He was sorely tempted to say no. Usagi cried louder. "May I have your names?" he asked through clenched teeth. 

"I am afraid we cannot give them to you, Mr. Tsukino," one of the men responded. "They are, ah, classified."

"I see," Kenji responded. "I see no reason to let you into my house unless you can prove you mean me no harm." He wasn't normally so rude, really, but these men set him off in a way no one else ever had, his hackles raised and his breath baited.

They showed him a badge. He didn't recognise it. He did recognize what appeared to be warrant, though, so he stepped aside and slipped into Usagi's room, where he explained to Ikuko what he'd heard so far.

Usagi continued to cry.

The Tsukinos carefully walked into the sitting room where the men were waiting, sitting in such a way as to directly block their path into their baby's room. "What," asked a tired and somewhat afraid Ikuko, "is it that we have been accused of?"

"Nothing," said one of the men, "but your child is a different matter."

It was with growing horror that the Tsukinos listened as the man said the words that would forever chase them: "Some children," he said, "are born...  _different_. They're born with certain  _abilities_ that are quite  _dangerous_ to the people around them. Your child is one among them. We ask that you give her over to us so that we may...  _diagnose_... the damage."

They didn't even speak. Ikuko was sorely tempted to kick the man. A suited woman spoke next. "Your child is afflicted with something we haven't seen before. We only do this for the girl's safety."

"You aren't going to give her back, are you?" hissed Ikuko. Kenji stood up to his full height- it didn't match theirs, but every little bit helped.

"No," admitted one of the Suits (and the fact that it had already gained a capital letter was somehow not surprising). 

Then, without prompting, Ikuko _darted_. She grabbed the suddenly silent Usagi and darted as fast as her legs would take her, and he husband followed with her (though only after taking the Suit in front of him by surprise through kicking her in a rather painful location).

They weren't sure how they escaped, but they did it for their daughter.

* * *

**4.**

Neither Ikuko or Kenji ever thought they'd be doing so much  _running._ At least, if anything, it brought them closer together.

No one was taking their little girl. No one. Not ever.

And so time passed, and they ran, and they laughed, and they were a normal family except that Usagi was a little bit precocious and different and amazing and Ikuko maybe learned a bit more martial arts from the internet than the average housewife and no one was quite sure what Kenji's jon was (except keeping Ikuko safe), and if no one knew where they'd last moved from or where their last name came from, that was fine too.

* * *

**5.**

They burned through cities like most people burned through toothbrushes, replacing them as they got dirtied with Suits, changing their names sometimes and sometimes not bothering. They seemed to only be held off for about the same amount of time anyway.

Sometimes, they were good at running, and sometimes they were bad.

One time, Kenji got shot.

Usagi was two, two and a week- and they'd already started measuring years and days by how long they'd had her and been keeping her safe and at one point they'd laughed over the shared misery and the shared journey and the glow of their special little girl that made everything better, every time they saw her smile.

And once, when they were running, Kenji got shot as they slid into another car. It was in the side. Ikuko nearly fainted, and simultaneously tried to shield Usagi's eyes and run to his side.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," she whispered, terrified by all of the blood. "They hadn't been shooting before, god, they didn't want to  _kill_ her they weren't shooting before-"

And then Usagi pulled out of her arms and ran with little feet over to her father. Her brow knitted together, and the little crescent moon on her forehead shone. She put her hands on the wound.

"What are you doing? You'll hurt him!" said a panicked Ikuko. Usagi didn't pay attention.

"Go away," she ordered it, her little high-pitched voice intoning the words with an air of frustration, the same sort of tone that she would normally say "no" in.

It glowed.

And then the injury melted away, and Usagi fell nearly limp. "Good-er," she proclaimed, and before anyone could ask what she had done or correct her grammar, she fell asleep.

Both Ikuko and Kenji stared at her before laughing, because they were both alive and everything might turn out okay after all.

* * *

 

**6.**

Neither Ikuko nor Kenji knew what to do when Ikuko discovered she was pregnant again. They hadn't really intended for it to happen, though, in hindsight, they hadn't been trying to stop it from happening much either. The fact was, the situation they were living in was hardly a situation for another child, and they were afraid the child would give their location away when he was born.

But the fact remained that she was pregnant.

They moved without having been caught this time, trying to go somewhere where they had never been before, and where no one would find them. They knew they could stay in one place for nine months if they tried- they'd stayed for nearly eight at least once, and they could move only around nearby towns if anything happened.

Somehow (miraculously), everything went right.

Usagi was three years and twenty-two days old when her little brother was born. His name was Tsukino Shingo, and he was beautiful too.

There was no odd mark on his forehead, and it would soon be clear that he was a perfectly ordinary baby.

(Neither parent knew whether to be relieved or disappointed.)

* * *

**7.**

Usagi knew how to run.

It was easy. Her Mommy and Daddy showed her how to when she was very very little. She would hop out of a window or a door or sometimes from a very high place (but she'd normally land just fine), and she'd find the nearest tight corner and hide.

In the morning, her Daddy would normally be the one to find her, though sometimes it would be her Mommy. She'd concentrate very hard on the moon, and the moon would hear her, and they'd find her in the morning.

She knew how to hide with Shingo, too. She'd grab her little brother and she'd make him bright if she could and make sure he didn't hurt and she'd find a good place to hide the both of them. She'd sing and she'd hold his hand and glow and tell him it would all be okay.

She'd not cry, though. She wasn't supposed to cry if Shingo was there. She'd be as strong as she could for him.

Usagi knew how to run.

She knew how to hide.

And she knew how to heal.

So she'd wait until she was alone to cry, and then she'd skip out of her room and make new friends and pretend that this time she'd have them for more than a few months.

* * *

**8.**

Maybe in some universe, Usagi and Shingo weren't close, but in this one, Shingo's third word was "Usa," right after "Mama" and "Dada". 

Sometimes, Ikuko wondered if the boy thought Usagi was his real Mama. Because when Ikuko and Kenji had to work late (it was hard to get a job with decent hours or decent pay when you could only be there for a few months before running away again), it was Usagi who would play with him, and Usagi who would cheerfully walk him home from daycare once he got old enough to go.

And it was Usagi who grabbed his little hand and said "Come on, come on, we're gonna hide now, okay?" when the time came to run again.

Maybe in some other universe, Usagi and Shingo weren't close.

But not in this one.

* * *

**9.**

Time passes, and children grow older.

One day, Ikuko realized that, for as much as Usagi would sometimes have to put herself to sleep keeping them from (she wouldn't say dying but that was the truth), Usagi wasn't very  _grown-up_ , and she nearly cried with relief.

For a moment, she thought she'd forced her daughter to become an adult by the age of five.

(Usagi never cried in front of Shingo, but she did cry in front of everybody else, when she really needed to.)

* * *

**10.**

When Usagi was six, she was enrolled in an elementary school.

The Tsukinos weren't giving up education for their children, they explained, even if they had to tell the school that they might move on a moment's notice- "It's my husband's job, you see," Ikuko lied.

Usagi sat down and explained to her three-year-old brother what was happening and what the rules were.

"You're gonna go to daycare," she said. "I'm gonna go to school and learn stuff. In three years, you can come too."

"But I wanna come with you, Usa!" said Shingo.

"You can't, silly," said Usagi, "you're too little."

"I'm not little," huffed Shingo.

"Yes you are," said Usagi, "you're littler than me!" For a minute, the argument continued, Shingo jumping up and down, trying to reach Usagi's height. It slowly wound down, though, as Shingo's eyes started to get teary.

"I don't want you to go! You can't go! No! Don't go Usa! No!" he cried. Usagi pulled him in for a hug.

"II won't be very far," she reasoned. "I'll be really safe, and I'll always come back."

"Promise?" Shingo whispered.

"I promise," Usagi replied. They were both silent for a moment.

"Shingo?" Usagi finally added.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to promise me something too," Usagi said. "If Mommy or Daddy come get you instead of me some days, you won't cry, and you won't be loud, okay?" Shingo tuned away.

"Do I have'ta?"

"Yeah, you should," said Usagi.

"Okaaay," said Shingo, and they stopped talking about somewhat upsetting things and played the game where they defended the beautiful Moon Queen.

(Later, Usagi cried to herself. "I don't want him to be alone!" she said. "I don't want to go by myself!" she said. But she wiped her tears up before anyone saw.)

* * *

**11.**

Usagi was good at making friends, and she tried to do it as often as possible, even if she only kept them for a few months. At her new school, things were the same. She walked up to the first person she saw and smiled and said, "I'm Usagi! Who are you? We should be friends!"

The tall girl she'd walked up to looked very startled. "I'm Makoto," she responded. "I- I guess we should be!"

The two of them were friends for about three months, after which time Usagi was pulled out of school by her Mommy for a "family emergency". She didn't come back.

Makoto mostly forgot about her over the years, especially after balancing herself when her parents died. But she didn't really. Not entirely.

(Something about the girl seemed so like Makoto, even if their personalities were different. She wondered if thunderstorms liked to play with Usagi, too. But she never asked.)

* * *

**12.**

One day, when Usagi was eight, everything changed.

"Run," whispered her mother, and Usagi ran- she was still very good at running. She grabbed her little brother, Shingo, and she ran.

(It was sheer luck, or perhaps a heavy dose of fate, that they were in Tokyo at the time. Normally, the cost of living there was far too great, but Kenji had managed to make a windfall on a freelance article before they moved, and thought he might continue to get lucky. They never had time to find out- they'd only been there for three weeks.)

Usagi ran into the buildings, holding Shingo's hand before lifting him onto her back and running faster- she could be clumsy sometimes, but under the light of the moon, she was much faster and didn't trip nearly as much as her brother did.

She dodged cars and jumped several stories into the air. People sometimes pointed, but she mostly hid as best she could. Finally, she put herself and Shingo into a small abandoned building, far away from where she'd started.

Perhaps she would have run with less willpower if she'd known her parents weren't picking her up again that morning.

* * *

**13.**

Tsukino Ikuko and Tsukino Kenji died holding hands.

* * *

**14.**

One day later, when Usagi and Shingo were cold and tired and hungry and thirsty, but neither their Mommy nor their Daddy had come to pick them up, Usagi slipped behind walls, waited until she couldn't hear Shingo, and cried.

"Please come back," she whispered, but they never did.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's my new story. It's a Sailor Moon thing, obviously. Consider it an AU based off of both the anime and manga.
> 
> If things confuse you, or seem unfamiliar, they will likely be explained later in the story. 
> 
> Finally, I promise that later chapters are A: less depressing, B: have more Sailor Moon-type stuff, and C: don't have this much exposition/time skip. Well, except maybe for the next chapter, which also needs to have some time skip so we can get to the Sailor Moon stuff.


	2. One, in which They Survive

**15.**

It was cold and dark in the morning when her Mommy wasn't there, even as Usagi cried behind a wall. But she stood up. Tomorrow was a school day, and she was going to have to go to school and drop Shingo off at his daycare. She wasn't entirely certain how to do so, but she thought she could get away with it for one day, and she was very, very hungry, and so going to school would be wise.

Yes. That would be what she did.

She wiped the tears out of her eyes and told herself that yes, she did know what she could do, and everything would be okay, it really would! Usagi just couldn't be a crybaby until they found Shingo and her, was all. Couldn't be a crybaby at all, see?

Yes. She'd go to school. She coughed as she fell asleep, and the moon shone on her, and that made her feel a little better. But not very.

* * *

**16.**

Never had she been so happy that her family qualified for free school lunches. For a long time, it had been a quiet shame for her, having as little money as she did, despite being in a somewhat affluent neighborhood. Sometimes, the other kids would make fun of her for it, and sometimes, she'd wish that she brought in a fancy, pretty sort of school lunch, well-packed and probably expensive, put together by a family that had time in the morning to do that, where both parents didn't work, who wasn't always running.

But now she was grateful. She had a small amount of emergency money, so the free lunches meant food. They meant water. They meant something she could hoard a little of to give to Shingo and herself, just for a few days. Until her Mommy came back. Until her Daddy came back. She might have to let the moon heal them some, but it would all be okay, see?

So she planned, and she took the largest portions she was allowed, and she saved some for her brother and used the rest of her money to buy what she could (and never had food seemed so expensive).

Her Mommy simply had to come.

There wasn't any other option.

And she wouldn't cry until she did.

* * *

**17.**

By the end of the week, they looked like this: not moving too much to preserve energy, Usagi, facing the moon, letting her brother have more food and water than she did because she could take something from the moon if she had to (though she promised to give it back). Hiding in that same abandoned building, no one had found them yet, none of the Suits had even seemed to look. Maybe they didn't know how to.

Then again, Usagi and Shingo didn't know how to do what they needed to do, either. One school lunch a day is not enough for two children, and the emergency money was running out, and Usagi was left holding her little brother as close as possible.

She realized she didn't know how to survive the weekend.

She wanted her brother to, mostly, so she saved her whole school lunch for him, this time, didn't bother eating much of it herself, only drinking the bottled water she'd gotten with it. She sat and waited and she was  _terrified_ , no matter what the moon was telling her. She didn't care that she could jump higher or heal things of glow or have whatever strange mark it was on her forehead, she didn't care that the earth below her feet had never felt exactly like home, and she didn't care that she was different.

For one of the first and only times, Usagi wished that she didn't see the moon, and that the moon didn't gaze back at her. She wished her long, blonde hair (she kept it long and blonde even as short would be easier for running) didn't glow silver just as often. She wished she couldn't run like she was flying. She wished she wasn't  _different_.

Maybe then her Mommy or Daddy would be coming back in time.

She couldn't cry though, as much as she wanted to. Maybe in one universe, Usagi could afford to be a crybaby, but in this one, she had to let her little brother cry into her chest instead, holding back tears a little longer.

Someone would come in time. Someone had to come in time. There simply wasn't any other option.

The main problem was that they were  _running out_ of time.

* * *

**18.**

What probably saves their lives in the end is a chance encounter and what would begin one of the most absurd groups of people in the world. An alliance of fate, if you were. And alliance that starts with footsteps.

Exhausted, feeling sick, hungry, not sure where to get clean water, but as determined as ever, Usagi looks at her half-asleep brother and whispers, "Wait here." Because there are footsteps into their hiding place, and if it's the Suits again, Usagi would- she would- she would do  _something_ , certainly!

So when it's a weird woman with red hair that Usagi comes across, she's understandably still a little wary, but also understandably lets down her guard. "Oh, hello!" she says. "Who are you?"

The woman looks at her and blinks. "Holy  _shit_. You're the Moon Princess." 

Usagi blinks back. "I am? I guess it would make sense, actually. I do like the moon a whole lot! Who are you, then?"

The woman continues to look completely nonplussed. Actually, no. That word is not strong enough. She looks completely and totally in shock, all things considered. "Holy shit, you're  _the Moon Princess!_ Here! In the middle of a back alleyway! As a kid! _Who doesn't even fucking know who she is!_  How? I don't understand!" The woman was getting quite hysterical at this point, actually, and despite their dire situation, Usagi can't quite help but to start worrying for her. She seems to be having a mental breakdown over the fact that Usagi could be the Moon Princess, whatever that meant. Maybe that was why she was always so different?

Then again, maybe the woman was just a little crazy. Either way, Usagi's next words were "Are you okay, Miss? I can probably help!" 

One thing that was true, no matter the universe: Usagi was always just a little too kind and a little too trusting. So she didn't start to worry when this woman seemed to immediately know about Usagi's connection to the moon. She didn't even start worrying when the lady started laughing a little hysterically. 

"You're actually offering to help me. You're actually-  _what the fuck is going on_ , dear god-" and she breaks down laughing again. At this point, Usagi is quite concerned. Clearly, something was wrong here. Actually, somewhere in her head, something is trying to tell her that a whole lot of things are clearly wrong here. But mostly, Usagi is concerned about the woman, who's laughter is dying down a little now. She pauses.

"Actually, you could probably help me, little Princess. You could help me quite a bit," she says.

And then she  _shifts_. Her skin melts away to reveal something dark and twisted, a rough, red, sandpaper sin, Her eyes have black whites, a statement that makes no sense unless you're looking at the animal features the woman suddenly took on. There's a small star on her forehead and her nails have elongated to claws. She looks, well, terrifying.

Usagi bites back a scream, which, in reality, just makes her sound rather like she's squealing. She doesn't want Shingo to hear yet. He's sleeping. He needs the rest. He also can't fight whatever this is. He also can't- maybe they don't have to fight, she thinks. Maybe she's just hurt?

And so much might have gone differently had Usagi's first instinct not been to immediately try to heal the lady. It didn't really work. Or at least, it didn't look like it did, especially given the way the lady swiveled around and stared at her as Usagi kept on trying until her already weak self had spent so much that she was down on her knees. So much might have gone differently had Usagi ever learned to weaponize healing, or worse, learned to weaponize it first. In one universe, she did, but she didn't have to survive quite as badly there.

The lady stared at Usagi for many long minutes, blinking, both eyes out of synch. She blinked again at the panting Usagi, who was trying not to cry because her healing hadn't worked, as far as she could tell, and she felt like collapsing, and this lady was terrifying. She blinked and asked slowly, "You're giving me energy... _willingly?"_ This was clearly an entirely foreign concept to the lady, who slowly stood down from her attack stance before suddenly grinning. It was a nicer grin than what she had on her face before, a little less hysterical, still a whole lot confused.

Usagi, despite everything, despite speaking without thinking, despite being two parts a kid and two parts too trusting, knew exactly what to say. "...why wouldn't I?"

The lady contemplated something for a moment, throwing ideas back and forth, before laughing once again. "I might just grow to like you,  _My Queen_." She curtsied. It was a little mocking, but Usagi was still too confused to care. "I'm Morga. Keep doing that, and I might just help you out of... whatever this situation is. It's not fitting for a Queen, but I'd much rather have you for one than fucking  _Beryl,_ who I haven't seen in  _my_ lifetime, don't care what the proper, made Youma say..."

Usagi just sort of stared.

"What?"

* * *

**19** **.**

 _Fucking Youma. Fucking Beryl. Fucking_ _humans._ That's about what what Morga, Earth-born Youma, was thinking around the time she wandered into a burnt out building and found a little Lunarian, just sort of hanging out there.

But there's a little bit more to her than just not  _caring_ anymore. Although, truthfully, that was a lot of her at that point. Yeah, she'd been born on Earth.  _So what_. Sure, she had the odd feeling none of this was supposed to have ever happened, but who gives a rat's ass? She'd never hear the end of the stories, though, from her "mother". Was that even the right term? Morga didn't know. She wasn't even sure how she was born.

Were Youma supposed to survive on Earth with their Queen just sort of vanished? No. Not even sort-of. With both Metalia and Beryl gone, what remained of the Dark Kingdom should have just sort of dissolved. And it did, but not quite. Youma escaped to Earth, which really wasn't that hard, given that the Dark Kingdom was just a shadow of Earth in the first place. And then? Then they were all supposed to just default to doing what Youma did to survive, that being A) steal energy and B) follow their Queen's commandments.

New Youma? They really weren't supposed to exist, and the old made Youma hated it. Born Youma got so much shit.  _So much shit_. Which was why Morga had been somewhat apathetically running into a burnt-out looking old building in the first place. She'd been cornered by fucking humans and some fucking Youma following what they thought were fucking Beryl's commands and kicking her out of what they saw as territory.

Suddenly, the Moon Princess. Technically, Morga should have killed her, should have drained all of her energy. The fact that Lunarians and Martians and Venusians and Mercurians and all that other shit were still being born to humans (who weren't even proper Earthlings anymore) was bad. The Moon Princess, especially so.

But you know what, fuck that. Beryl's not here. Metallia's not here. Usagi is, and you know what? Usagi could give her food. She could protect Usagi in return. Maybe she wouldn't have to keep on getting wailed on by older made Youma, and maybe  _finally_ have some direction in her life.

Just because Youma instinctively had to have a Queen didn't mean Morga couldn't choose which one she wanted.

So Morga stayed.

* * *

**20.**

Their family quickly got weird after that, because trying to explain to her younger brother why a strange lady had followed her ("Youma," the lady had explained, "I'm a Youma") back to where they were staying, taken one look, and decided they needed better lodgings wasn't easy. Having Morga there did, Usagi had to admit, make surviving easier again. She just decided not to ask where she got things when they didn't have money and forbid her from hurting anyone too badly.

At first, the Youma seemed upset by, well, everything. Usagi didn't quite get it. But one day, when she got detention and couldn't bring her brother home from school (couldn't explain to her teachers that her parents didn't exist anymore), she was forced to ask Morga to do it. 

Somehow, nothing went wrong.

It took about three months for Usagi to accept that her parents weren't coming back for a long, long time, but that probably started when she got home that day to see Shingo  _laughing_ and Morga _smiling._ That's when she realized everything might be okay after all.

* * *

**21.**

Time passes, and they get older, and Morga tells them that they're going to move. "Believe it or not, I found a job," she said, and they believed her. Usagi was nine and Shingo was six, and Shingo needed to start school, preferably somewhere new where their lack of parents wouldn't be noticed. Shingo had tried to explain that bit to Morga more than once. Basically, he didn't want to be separated from Usagi. Basically, he was still convinced he needed to stay in places that his Mommy would find them. No one had the heart to tell him otherwise (or at least, Morga didn't; Usagi still didn't seem to have the ability to admit it).

But that's not what actually makes them leave their totally free lodging in an abandoned building. The building had been fixed up quite a bit, actually, since they got there. This was mostly Morga's insistence. "You are a Queen," she'd tell Usagi daily. "You can't just accept someplace like this is where you live!" Then again, Morga was always filled with things like that. Usagi wasn't quite certain who was supposed to actually be the one in charge, given how Morga would belligerently correct her posture at every given moment. 

Morga was full of useful things, too. Things like "it's easy to weaponize healing against Youma, just give it more fu- I mean, uh, more da- MORE MOONLIGHT." Things like how to fight and how to protect her little brother better, rumors she'd heard about the Moon and Lunarians, really, just everything Morga had. "Better than letting you run right to Beryl, Moon Queen."

Usagi just wished she'd stop calling her Queen.

But none of that's why they have to move.

They have to move because Usagi decides that, if she's Queen, even if she'd just Queen of two people and apparently just a kid princess otherwise, she'd try to make an actual difference. So when she found a terrified looking little kid running from some men in black suits, she had to help.

Several seconds later, she used her weaponized moonlight to a good effect, essentially turning herself into a human flashbang. However, not much longer later, she found more Suits. And more.

They'd apparently thought she was dead.

Whoops.

Luckily, Morga, who was surprisingly scrappy all things considered, got the drop on them. Looking between the scared little boy and Usagi, she just sighed.

"You- learn how to fight. If you're going to bring random stray Jovians home, you need to protect them." Usagi nodded. They gave the boy some food and money and not much later, he left, his parents having found him again (and wasn't that just a punch in the gut?).

They moved the next day, and Usagi started to learn how to fight.

* * *

**22.**

Shingo met Naru first.

"Who are you?" she asked, absently watching as Morga learned the ropes of working in a jewelry store. She was actually good at selling things, which was a little surprising, given how horrible she was at talking in any sophisticated way. Naru was pretty sure there was more to it than that, though. Naru was perceptive.

"Tsukino Shingo," the boy responded slowly and deliberately, rocking back and forth on his feet. "My Auntie Morga's over there. My big sister's still at school. Who are you?"

Naru thought the little boy was actually kinda cute. "I'm Osaka Naru," she explained. "My Ma owns the store."

It was only about fifteen minutes later that Usagi got to the store. Her knees were a bit cut up from who-knows-what, and she looked out of breath. Shingo immediately got up to hug her. "Look, Usa! That's Naru! She's pretty nice." Usagi gave Naru a smile. Neither of them knew it at the time, but that was probably when their friendship was sealed.

(It was only a little later when Naru, who'd become perceptive over the years, realized that Usagi's classes ended at almost the same time as Shingo's.)

* * *

**23.**

"They're calling this aberration the Moon Queen for some reason," Ami's mother muttered, while Ami herself sat in the corner, feet kicking back and forth, not actually reading a textbook that her parents had bought for her. Her eyes were downcast, her expression drooping, just a little.

"She's different from the other nonhumans. She'll work with the monsters. Got one that shows up with her fairly often. She's been making research difficult." She wondered if her father realized that she could still hear perfectly well. Probably. She wondered if either of them cared. Probably not. 

She hoped their research got harder.

She hoped they _never_ figured it out.

And the saline water dripping down her cheeks froze into frost. She brushed it away, closed up her book, and went to her room, cell number two in her ivory penthouse tower. At least she could keep the room cold.

She pulled another book down. It was a fantasy. Mizuno Ami dreamed of flying.

* * *

**24.**

Time, the eternal force, moves on. Shingo gets older. Usagi gets older, too, but it's Shingo who's changing. Usagi likes the name. Mostly, though, she just helps people. She doesn't really care what Morga's calling them. She doesn't even care if they're Youma (and they always look at her so oddly when she helps them that, even as most of them decide it's more worth it to attack her, she can't decide that it's better just not to try). Anyone, really, who's different.

Even after a year of being her friend, though, Usagi wasn't prepared for Naru's casual "So, when are you going to let me help with this moon stuff?"

Usagi blinks for a moment. "You know?"

She just nods. "Knew from the moment the reports started on TV. My father kept me sharp, before he left." There's a gleam in Naru's eyes. It reads this:  _good riddance_.

Usagi decides she doesn't want to know.

"Sorry, then, for keeping it a secret," Usagi mumbled, rubbing the back of her head.

"It's okay. Best friends, we share everything from now on, though, got it?"

"Got it."

Two days later, Shingo was also begging Usagi to help.

That's when Usagi asked the Moon.

* * *

**25.**

_Ceremonials. Citizenship. Alignment._ For days, the words swirled in Usagi's head like a sandstorm. She didn't entirely understand what some of them meant. The Moon had whispered them to her, and she still didn't know what they meant. Well, that was wrong, she knew what they meant.

Maybe she just wanted Naru and Shingo to be able to turn back.

Because once they aligned themselves with a planet, declared themselves members of that kingdom, they wouldn't be just plain "humans" anymore.

She hadn't gotten a choice. She didn't want them to feel like they didn't have one. So she waited and waited until one day when she sees Shingo limping home for no good reason and realizes that there's no reason that she could keep this from them, anyway.

"You... you can become a little like me," she starts slowly. "Not- not exactly like me, and you'll have to be really careful! And you have to choose a planet to pledge loyalties to, except I only have any connection to the Moon and to the Earth, but mostly just to the Moon, so I don't know how to do any of the others or even what any of the others do and I don't know if I can do Earth and-"

In the end, she needn't have worried. Both of them pledged themselves quietly to the Moon, and Usagi touched both of their arms, and then suddenly, the world  _shifted_ for them both.

"This is weird," Shingo summarized nicely.

Naru couldn't help but agree.

* * *

**26.**

It took a long time to realize what it had done. All of it. They both had a heightened connection to the moon, they both could fight a little faster (though not as fast as Usagi). Mostly, though, they were both healers.

Morga summarized it like this: "Lunarians. They're apparently all  _wimps_."

There's a long pause.

"...no offense though, Moon Queen."

Usagi laughs. There is none.

* * *

**27.**

And then, somehow, life becomes routine. Fight off weird scientists in suits, check. Protect who they are from the public, check. Help give protection to people born with their connections to planets intact, check. Actually gain more Youma?

That had been unexpected.

Of course, the few that joined behind Morga were weak. All returned to their own territory. None stayed with Usagi. But the word had spread, and maybe Usagi had changed a little. Whatever Morga was driving into Usagi's head, whatever she and Naru and Shingo had made, some Youma seemed to have decided that she was more immediate than Beryl.[  
](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipotane)

It was nice.

And years pass, and they grow up, and the world changes, and a cat wakes up in an alleyway in Japan.

* * *

**28.**

No one should be surprised that Luna fainted after first talking to Usagi. For one thing, the moon was prominently on her forehead. For another thing...

"You're awfully small for a Youma."

Poor Luna hadn't been prepared at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope this is acceptable? For those of you who do not know who Morga is, [this should be a good reminder.](http://sailormoon.wikia.com/wiki/Morga_\(anime\)) As for some of the _how did this happen?_ and _why did she accept Usagi so quickly?_ stuff, well, eventually it will be explained in more detail, but that's just that, an eventuality. Also, debating whether I should add Morga to the character tags. She'll play a pretty big role. Also, why didn't I put Naru there? Fixing that.
> 
> Somewhere, I decided that this would probably be more 90's-anime-based than manga-based, but manga elements that I like will still become involved.
> 
> It's been too long, hasn't it, guys? I'll try to update both this and Pressure a bit more consistently from now on.


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